'Trying to stay alive:' Victim of vicious Hawthorne dog attack still fighting one year later

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — It’s been one year since an 86-year-old army veteran was viciously attacked by a pair of dogs in Hawthorne, forcing her to celebrate her 87th birthday in the hospital. Now after losing her leg and ear in the attack, she’s back home still fighting.

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“I say I’m going to kick butt today. Some days I just feel like kicking butt,” Gertrude Bishop, or Terri as everyone knows her, said.

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But it hasn’t been an easy year. Last year, a pair of dogs from her neighbor’s yard in Hawthorne escaped and viciously attacked Terri as she was getting water out of her car.

“I said ‘go home’, turned around and picked up water [from my car] and they jumped me and dragged me onto the ground.”

Doctors were forced to amputate Terri’s right leg and ears and she spent months in the hospital. She still has to go to the VA for rehab, but her only transportation option is from her son who lives in Jacksonville. Doctors could still be forced to amputate her left leg. But it hasn’t stopped Terri.

“I believe in God and I believe things happen to us for a reason,” she said.

Neighbors said animal control was called out several times in the past for the dogs, but nothing happened until after last year’s attack.

Action News Jax previously reported on the increase in calls to Putnam County Animal Control. Now a new shelter is being built next to the sheriff’s office with space for extra capacity, so animals aren’t turned away.

Terri said she doesn’t hold anyone accountable and hopes it’s a lesson on forgiveness everyone can learn from.

“I’ve never been vengeful about the accident,” she said. “Just trying to stay alive. Really trying to stay alive.”

The family has started a GoFundMe to help her pay for the expenses, including a new $20,000 prosthetic leg.

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